MECHANICAL MILKING

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20821, 3 June 1939, Page 10

MECHANICAL MILKING

THE FIRST MACHINE EXHIBITED IN ENGLAND MR A. RIDD LOOKS BACK There are steam machines of every kind, To please all classes now; There’s a sewing machine for pretty girls. And one to milk the cow. This ditty is probably the first advertisement ever written for a milking machine. It was voiced in 1885 by the cryer at the Barnstaple fair, Somerset, and was designed to attract public attention to what was probably the very first device for mechanica. milking. It is of peculiar interest to Taranaki people because of the fact that the machine in question was built by Mr A. Ridd before he came to New Zealand and subsequently produced his well-known Ridd milking machine. Mr Ridd's Early Experiments Born in West Somerset in the country made so familiar by the popular novel Lorna Ooone, Mr Ridd, as a boy, experimented in various kinds of mechanical milking contrivances. Jiis family had farmed the same acres for generations, and under the circumstances of his upbringing, he, not unnaturally, developed an interest in the business of dairying. Young Ridd's thoughts ran in the direction of simplifying the process of milking, and lie conceived the idea of a machine in which an eccentric revolved two rubber rollers to squeeze the milk from the cow’s udder. At the age of 20, Mr Ridd came to New Zealand. In the Otago district he still pursued the idea of mechanical milking. He spent some time in rabbiting, and interested himself in studying the mammillary system of rabbits, where he learned much useful information, afterwards to stand him in good stead when developing the Ridd milker. His brother, who was farming in the South Island, sold out about this time and persuaded Mr Ridd to purchase a general store at Miller's Flat in the gold field’s district. Settling in Taranaki The big drawback in this business was the fact that most of the trade was with grain and wool, and, as the farmers received their cheque only once or twice a year, it meant that Ridd Bros, had to trade on big overdrafts at the bank. As this did not appeal to the proprietors they sold out, and went back to England, On their return to New Zealand they endeavoured to buy farm land at Patea, but there was none offering other than Maori leases. They were then sent by a commission agent, by the name of Cowan, to Toko, where there was 700 acres available. In those days there was only one hotel in Stratford, no metal roads, and no road at all to Toko. After several hours plodding through Taranaki mud they arrived on the section with a tin of biscuits purchased from McCluggage Bros., the Toko storekeepers. They spent the night on punga fronds, and in the morning decided that the Toko proposition was not suitable. Inflation From Bicycle Tube Eventually they took up 200 acres of bush at Croydon Road, where it was necessary to sledge in all provisions. At that time there was a store, post, office, school and hotel at Waipuku. After the land was cleared and fenced Mr Ridd's brother died and it was only then that he turned his thoughts actively to his boyish idea of a milking machine. This consisted of a vacuum system of cups made from quarter pound cocoa tins, with bicycle tubing as a substitute for the present day inflation. About that time isolated machines were finding their way into the country, a notable one being a 10-cow plant on the Tariki road. This was manufactured in Glasgow and required an 8 h.p. engine to drive the pump. Others were worked by a treadmill opera led either by a bullock or a horse, depending on the financial position of the farmer. Mr Ridd became keenly interested in milking machines and shortly afterwards had brass cups made to replace the old cocoa tin system, and since then, as time has shown, he has developed the Ridd milking machine to its present-day efficiency. That the standard to-day Is high, is proved by Mr Geo. Seed’s (Matamata) butterfat returns, believed to be a World’s Record. 3411 bof butterfat average over six years, the size of the herd this year being 189 cows. This is only one of many other Dominion Records put up by the Ridd Machine of to-day. 104